Most academic writing is strengthened by eliminating adverbs. To emphasize a point, provide more evidence to support it. Avoid unnecessary words and in particular, adverbs. Instead, choose more precise verbs.

An adverb modifies or describes:

A verb (e.g. He runs quickly.)

An adjective (e.g. His writing is extraordinarily descriptive.)

Another adverb (e.g. He runs extraordinarily quickly.)

Often, but not always, adverbs in English end in –ly. Here are 50 adverbs that I have seen in academic papers that you can eliminate and your writing will be better for it:

Adroitly

Amazingly

Awesomely

Badly

Basically

Carefully

Clearly

Completely

Convincingly

Deftly

Desperately

Dexterously

Effortlessly

Extremely

Faithfully

Fundamentally

Generally

Goodly

Honestly

Inherently

Instantly

Interestingly

Narrowly

Naturally

Nearly

Necessarily

Obviously

Precisely

Previously

Preposterously

Quite

Really

Relentlessly

Simply

Spectacularly

Successfully

Suddenly

Surely

Truthfully

Ubiquitously

Unequivocally

Ungodly

Unnecessarily

Unquestionably

Utterly

Unwittingly

Usually

Very

Widely

Zealously

Often, when writers make a conscious choice to eliminate adverbs and instead find stronger and more precise verbs, the result is writing that is clearer and more powerful.

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